A Hard Case
by Bea Candy
Summary: When Shadow gets sick, he has no choice but to crash with Team Sonic. Knuckles is sure that this is the perfect opportunity to get Shadow to join the team. Shadow, of course isn't interested in any team that blue faker is on. But he is interested in a certain muscular red echidna. (Sonic Boom Cartoon Verse! Boom!Knuxadow)


The village's comic shop was always a popular hangout, but today it was bustling. Last night, it had gotten a shipment full of new issues of everyone's favorite comics, and everyone had rushed in, hoping to get their choices.

Zooey, for instance, walked out, giggling giddily about the fourth volume of _Girl With A Crush On A Mysterious Boy_ , straight from Eastern Mobius.

Dave the Intern looked just as excited over his copy of _Techno Genius Who Makes Machines_ , which promised on the cover 'Even Less Accessible Humor!'

Among all of the fans, though, two in particular stood out, not just for being famous on the island and brightly colored, but for how intently involved they were in their conversation.

"You're so wrong," Sonic said with an air of authority, crossing his arms. "Punch Dude would use his comically large fists to beat him into the ground."

"Yeah, maybe," Knuckles said, pointing his finger upward for emphasis, "but Ball Guy could do that turn-into-a-ball thing before Punch Dude could land a hit!"

"And do what, roll around until Punch Dude gets dizzy?" Sonic shook his head. "He's got barely any physical strength."

"Yeah, well, Punch Dude isn't exactly the brightest," Knuckles replied without a hint of irony. "He'd probably use up all his energy trying to hit Ball Guy, and then Ball Guy could knock him down by barely hitting him."

"Um, excuse me?" the clerk said, clearly hesitant to butt in on their conversation.

"Huh?" Sonic asked, noticing "We're up? Oh, sweet. We want-"

"Issue 276 of _Ball Guy_ , right?" the clerk said.

"How'd you know that?" Knuckles asked.

"Lucky guess," the clerk said with an annoyed expression.

The two walked out of the store, their brand new comic in Sonic's arm.

"I guess you're right," Sonic said, "Ball Guy would probably win in a fight."

Satisfied, Knuckles nodded with an "Mm-hm!"

Sonic smirked. "Punch Dude is definitely cooler, though."

Knuckles looked like he was about to retort, until he looked in the distance. "Hey," he said, nudging Sonic in the shoulder, "isn't that Shadow?"

Sonic's facial expression quickly went from his amused smile to confused, as he looked to where Knuckles was looking. "Shadow?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "What's he doing here?"

Indeed, it was Shadow, in the Village Center. He didn't seem to be doing anything, besides looking around as if disoriented.

"It looks like he's. Kind of tired?" Knuckles said skeptically. He couldn't help but stare. It was rare for them to see Shadow at all, unless there was some bigger threat or he was after Sonic. He mostly kept to himself, and they didn't really know anything about him.

"What is he _doing_ here?" Sonic repeated, now annoyed instead of confused.

"Maybe he wants the latest issue of _Ball Guy_?" Knuckles asked, shrugging.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Even if he was into comic books, he's more of a _Masked Angsty Antihero_ fan," he said, not taking his eyes off Shadow.

"Good point," Knuckles said, before pausing in confusion. "Why are comic book titles so descriptive in our world?" he asked suddenly.

Sonic shushed him, realizing too late that Shadow had heard him and turned to them.

"Sonic!" Shadow shouted, quickly moving next to the two, "What are you doing here?"

For a moment, Sonic looked intimidated, before he processed what Shadow had said and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'what am I doing here?' This is my hometown."

"Oh." Shadow looked around himself as if he'd just noticed his surroundings "Right."

"Uh, are you okay?" Sonic asked.

"No," Shadow said blankly before shaking his head. "Yes," he corrected, before looking around himself again. "Huh?"

"Seriously, you look even worse than usual," Sonic said, his joking tone as present as always. "What's going on?"

"Get out of my way!" Shadow said suddenly, pushing past him and attempting to run off.

"Shadow!" Knuckles shouted, grabbing his arm and stopping him.

"Let go of me right now!" Shadow shouted through gritted teeth, "I'm in the middle of-"

He stopped talking suddenly and began coughing.

"In the middle of an intense coughing fit?" Sonic suggested sarcastically, annoyance and fighting stance gone in favor of amusement. "I didn't know slowpokes like you could catch colds."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Shadow shouted, "I am the ul-"

"-timate lifeform, I don't get sick," Sonic interrupted, imitating Shadow's face and voice. He grinned smugly and said, "Yeah, sure."

Shadow looked like he was going to say something, but then Knuckles pulled him back, placing his palm on his forehead.

"Sonic, he's burning up! I don't think this is a run-of-the-mill cold."

"Hey, if he passes out, can we test out my new white permanent marker on him?"

" _Sonic!_ " Knuckles yelled.

Sonic narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Ugh, fine. We'll take him to my place and figure out what's wrong with him. But you're carrying him."

"Okay!" Knuckles said with a grin, picking Shadow up bridal style with ease.

"Can't carry me," Shadow mumbled petulantly, his eyes half-closed, "'m th' ult'mate lifeform."

"It's okay!" Knuckles said brightly, "I can carry you! You're pretty light, actually."

"Let's _go_ ," Sonic said impatiently, tapping his foot.

"Yeah, yeah, coming!" He said, following Sonic as quickly as he could without jostling Shadow too much. "And he calls _you_ the grumphog," he mumbled offhandedly to Shadow.

"I heard that," Sonic said, annoyed.

Knuckles thought he heard a low-pitched, quiet, laugh, but when he looked down at Shadow he was scowling, so he assumed it was just his imagination.

When they got to Sonic's shack, Knuckles placed Shadow on Sonic's hammock, much to both hedgehogs' annoyance.

Sonic, clearly not on board with this, said, "We should probably get Tails. He'll know what it is."

"Maybe we should get Amy?" Knuckles asked, shrugging. "She's the one who usually deals with it when one of us are sick."

Sonic looked like he was going to retort before he decided it wasn't worth it."You know what? I'll just get everybody. You make sure he doesn't destroy anything while I'm gone."

Knuckles nodded and glanced at Shadow as Sonic sped out. He had apparently fallen asleep almost instantly. Looking around to ensure nobody was watching, Knuckles smiled fondly, sitting against the tree in the center of the shack that the hammock hung on.

As was to be expected, Sonic was back fast, with Amy, Tails, and Sticks in tow.

Tails got to work quickly, placing a thermometer into the sleeping Shadow's mouth, and hooking up a simple monitor.

Amy felt his forehead and gasped slightly. "Oh, you poor thing," she said quietly, heading into the kitchen to get a cool wet rag for his forehead.

Sonic rolled his eyes at his teammates doting over Shadow so actively.

"Well? What's wrong with him?" Knuckles asked Tails impatiently.

Tails took a moment to look at his monitor. "Given his symptoms, it looks like it's just the Mobian Flu. He should be his usual edgy self in a few days at most."

"That's good," Sticks said, before thinking for a moment. "I guess," she corrected. Sure, it was a good thing that he wasn't actually seriously sick, but it was probably a bit ambiguous if they should be relieved or disappointed he'd recover soon.

Sonic looked a little relieved too, in spite of himself. "Well, if that's all, when does he leave?"

"What?!" Knuckles half-shouted.

Sonic shrugged like what he was saying was entirely obvious. "Hey, that's my hammock he's crashing on!"

"We can't just kick him out, Sonic!" Amy said indignantly as she came out of the kitchen with the rag.

Sonic looked a little shocked that they were even considering the possibility. "It's not like he'd do the same for us, Amy. He's not exactly our friend."

Knuckles scoffed at that reasoning. "What, we'll let Eggman live with us, but not Shadow?" he asked, eyes narrowed.

Sonic folded his arms over his chest. "The last time we saw him, he literally tried to kill me."

Without picking a side, Tails said, "Given my readings, he's definitely not faking sick, at least."

"Thanks for your concern, but I don't need your help," a voice said.

They all turned to the source of the unexpected voice and saw that Shadow had stood up. Everyone entered battle stances, but stood down when they saw his eyes were still lidded.

"Shadow!" Knuckles said, alarmed, "You should be sleeping!"

Shadow shook his head. "I don't know why you think I'm sick, but I'm not." He turned away from them

He proceeded to run into a wall, nowhere close to the door.

"I'm fine," he said quietly from the ground.

"Yeah, clearly," Tails said, entirely deadpan.

"C'mon, Shadow," Amy said patiently, "back to bed."

Shadow didn't put up any real resistance as Amy led him to the hammock again. Once lying down, he quickly dozed off again.

There was a moment of silence as everyone watched it. It was still so strange. He almost looked peaceful.

"I still think this is a terrible idea," Sonic said, breaking the silence, as soon as he was sure Shadow was asleep.

Sticks smirked mockingly. "Sonic, even _I_ think you're being paranoid here. _Me!_ "

Sonic scowled. "He. Tried. To kill me. I'm not overreacting here!"

Tails shrugged and said, "Yeah, but he's pretty pathetic right now. What's he gonna do, sneeze on you?"

"I can't believe this," Sonic said incredulously as he realized he was the only one objecting to Shadow's presence. "Fine. I guess I'm outvoted. Whatever. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"I'm gonna go make some chicken soup for him. I'll be back soon."

Sticks put a hand on his shoulder and said, "If you want, I'll go make some traps for your house in case he really is faking it."

Before Sonic could tell her that that wasn't necessary, she was off.

Tails huffed as he and Sonic watched her go. He turned to Sonic and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Sonic. He's definitely sick. My machines are never wrong. I'm gonna go to the store and get some medicine for him."

"Yeah, okay. Leave me with the creepy weirdo who wants me dead, why not."

He turned and saw that at least Knuckles was still there, smiling almost giddily.

Sonic scowled. "Knuckles, I don't get it," he said flatly. "Why are you so excited about having Shadow here?"

"Well, duh," Knuckles said, rolling his eyes as if Sonic was missing something apparent. "Obviously because this is our big chance."

"Our chance at what?"

Knuckles' smile was wide as he answered, "To show Shadow how awesome being in a team is!"

Sonic blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"I've got it all planned out," Knuckles said, pulling out a few sheets of paper and handing them to Sonic. He cleared his throat and began, "Step one: Bring Shadow back to health with healthy stuff."

Indeed, Sonic saw that the first picture was of Knuckles feeding Shadow a spoonful of medicine.

He continued, as Sonic flipped through the pictures, "Step two: Bring him on a mission and show him how easy it is for us to beat Eggman together. Step three: Become best friends with Shadow, invite him to our team. Step five: Now the team is even more awesome!"

"Step four - I mean, five - is a picture of you and Shadow holding hands. Surrounded by hearts."

Knuckles froze, smile still on his face. "I just gave you the wrong picture!" he said, quickly swapping it out for a picture of the team standing in heroic poses with Shadow next to Sonic in the center, all of them smiling triumphantly.

"When did you have time to draw-" Sonic started, before shaking his head and deciding to let that go. "Knuckles, this is all very ..." He paused for a moment, as if looking for the right word, before settling on "nice." He paused briefly before continuing, "But Shadow isn't some sort of 'nice guy waiting to be found' or whatever it is you think. He's just a jerk who thinks friendship makes people weak."

Knuckles just continued to smile obliviously. "So we prove him wrong! I mean, he is wrong, so how hard can it be?"

Sonic sighed, almost feeling bad. In the gentlest voice he could manage, he said, "Knuckles, it's really not that simple-"

Knuckles, clearly not listening, continued on, "I'll bet you that by the time he's better, he'll be crazy about friendship. He'll beg to be a part of Team Knuckles."

Sonic frowned. He just wasn't gonna get through to him, was he? "Okay, one, that is _not_ our team's name. Two, I'm gonna regret this, but." He sighed exaggeratedly, and began rubbing his left temple. "You're welcome to try, as long as you promise you won't, like, cry when it doesn't work."

Knuckles grinned. "Okay, deal. As long as _you_ don't cry when you turn out to be wrong about something."

Sonic 'hmm'ed' at the insult in annoyance and left.

Knuckles, now that he had the room to himself, grinned and pumped his fist. He knew he wasn't exactly known for having ideas. But this was, without a doubt, the best idea he had ever had.


End file.
